Hope but no promise on roof funding

Clinton City Schools officials said they walked away from a meeting last week with state legislators feeling positive about the discussion and potential funding for much needed roof issues within the system.

Last Tuesday, school staff and the Clinton City Board of Education made the trek to Raleigh and the Legislative building to meet with Sen. Brent Jackson, with roofing issues the top priority on their minds.

“We all left away feeling very positive about the meeting and his (Sen. Brent Jackson) interest,” noted Dr. Linda Brunson, board chairwoman in a telephone interview later in the wee. “His attitude towards knowing what our major needs are was impressive. I mean, he was thankful for us just bringing it to his attention. Otherwise he wouldn’t have known, had we not reached out to him.

“I think that was a very positive first step in the conversation, however, he did not make any promises,” she stressed. “But, we feel really good about the possibilities of what he might be able to get done.”

Following the recommendation of county commissioners, city school officials set up a special meeting Tuesday afternoon with Jackson. The focus was to voice their concerns over the need for funding and resources to complete roofing repairs throughout Clinton City Schools.

The meeting comes on the heels of the city system being denied an $8.5 million Needs Based Public School Capital Fund grant.

State Rep. William Brisson was also supposed to be part of Tuesday’s talks but Brunson said he was unable to attend, citing other obligations.

City schools superintendent Dr. Wesley Johnson said the full capital outlay plan was brought to Jackson’s attention, but the senator, he said, wanted to hone in on the system’s most urgent need which, Johnson reiterated, was at Sampson Middle.

“Although we went with our entire long range capital plan, he (Jackson) kind of wanted to stay focused on what our our chief need was,” Johnson explained. “Of course, we identified the Sampson Middle School project as that chief need, just because it’s such a big piece of the roofing projects. The Samson Middle School roof, alone, is going to cost us over $4 million, and we just don’t have the capital available at our fingertips to just dip into and get $4 million. That was the prioritized item, the one we identified as most needed.”

The core purpose of the special meeting was evaluating possible funding sources to help alleviate the city system’s roofing needs. Johnson said Jackson, while not promising anything, gave Clinton officials signs of hope for possible future help, though there were other pressing needs currently.

“We anticipated this,” Brunson said, noting that Jackson talked about the expenses that are coming regarding Hurricane Helene relief,” Brunson said.

“They are in dire need of megabucks (lottery money) and probably money that they don’t even know that they need. Sen. Jackson, he actually talked about that and some previous hurricane relief efforts that they’re still trying to fund, some of that’s still outstanding, I suppose. So again, we anticipated that.”

During those conversations, however, Brunson said the senator relayed news that nor other board members were aware of in regard to potential funding.

“In the conversation, he brought up something that I had not heard about,” she stated. “It dealt in the possibility of a dip in 2025 tax revenues, which he’s thinking that there’s going to be a little bit of shortfall on that, so funds could be available. Of course, he didn’t make any promises, but he told us it would be February or March before they (legislators) got back together to begin thinking about the next budget cycle.

“He said he would kind of keep us in mind and put us on the list of things he staying abreast of that he’s been made aware of,” Brunson added.

Johnson concurred with Brunson’s assessment, and offered his own optimism for funding assistance in the next biennium budget.

Since becoming superintendent, Johnson said, he had learned a lot about the legislative cycle and how it works, and he noted that the 2025-27 biennium budget adopted during the long session could offer them some hope. “I’m not aware of any, we use the term, big ticket items, that our local county has asked for.

“Again, he didn’t make any promises, but he did say that he would keep us in mind as that budget started rolling forward. Thinking about it, $4 million seems like an awful lot of money when you consider it on a local context. On a state context, really, an additional $3 to $4 million in the broad state budget is not a huge ask.”

Brunson said the meeting concluded after about 45 minutes and they left full documents with Jackson outlining all their needs. Now, Johnson added, it’s all a matter of playing the waiting game.

“He (Jackson) mentioned that he had seen bigger asks before, that this was not a small ask, but he said he would take it into consideration,” Johnson said. “He’s going to meet with other senators, and basically just see what they could do moving forward. And, I think, like Dr. Brunson said, we left feeling very positive that at least we had been heard. We’re just hopeful that even if they can’t provide funding for the whole roofing project that maybe, at least, a portion can be provided within the next biennium budget.”

While they wait on state action, Brunson and Johnson said they would continue to try for funding through the Needs Based Public School Capital Fund. Patience, they added, was the ultimate goal.

“Our plan is still to reach out through the Needs Based Public School grants,” Johnson said. “We complete that every year. This past year, we sent 14 applications forward, and, unfortunately, we weren’t funded. I think part of that might be because Hobbton was funded for their new school, which we’re excited for. In the meantime, we’ll continue to have discussions about our needs here in our district, potentially with a new school project.

“We’ll look at every penny that we have and focus on how we might use some of that toward our cost,” Brunson added. “Like Dr. Johnson said, we just feel optimistic about Sen. Jackson trying to do something when the time comes, and sometimes, it is better to be patient than to be in a hurry; we’ll just kind of wait and see.”

And while the city schools has nearly $7 million in its undesignated fund balance, how much, if any, will be used on the roofing needs remains to be seen. School board members, Johnson said, are weighing how to utilize those funds, or some of those funds.

”I think what we shared with the county commissioners is that the fund balance is there,” Johnson said. “While true, it’s for situations that are of extreme emergency. I still think of the, I guess they call it a downspout that occurred at Union Intermediate where it totally collapsed the gymnasium. We have fund balance for an emergency such as that; is Sampson Middle to the point that it’s an emergency need, it’s getting close.

“Plus, as I mentioned before, we are in the process on considering the construction of a new school,” Johnson continued. “So, we still don’t know if we may need some of our local fund balance to help us with that. We’ll just have to look and see what our items of priority are.”

Even with those decisions to consider, Johnson said that doesn’e cover the full extent of Clinton City Schools’ needs that go beyond roofs.

“The board also has to consider the entire capital outlay budget which we also presented to Sen. Jackson,” Johnson said. “In actuality, we showed over $22 million of needs. Anybody knows that many of our buildings are aging. We have many aging HVAC units, and we’ve got an abundance of other needs … even if we receive money for a Sampson Middle School roof, and spent all of our fund balance, we still would have needs.

“That means, the board, Mr. (John) Lowe, our facilities executive director, and myself have a lot of work to do to determine what can be done right now to address all of the needs moving forward,” Johnson stressed. “One thing is aparent in all this, we can’t generate fiscal revenue, and we can’t go out and sign a loan. So, we’re going to have to be cautiously optimistic that as we continue to share our needs, that we’re going to get help.”